Why you’ll love it:

Salvia ‘Amistad’, the remarkable Friendship Sage.

Family: Lamiaceae. Garden origin.
Received the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.

• Sensational velvety royal-purple and black flowers all summer and autumn.
• Highly attractive to bees and butterflies, providing essential nectar late into autumn.
• Rewarding and easy to grow, vigorous, drought-tolerant perennial

Salvia ‘Amistad’ In Your Garden

Extraordinarily elegant, rich and dark, this magnificent cultivar brings unique colour intensity to sunny garden spaces. Known affectionately as the Friendship Sage, it produces tall, arching spires loaded with tubular, deep velvet-purple flowers. Standing tall on dark stems, it creates an unforgettable visual impact from midsummer right through to the first hard winter frosts.

Hardy in southern and coastal UK gardens, it reaches 1.5m tall and 50cm wide in 2 years. As it matures, it forms a more rounded shrub, over 1m wide, bearing beautifully textured ornamental foliage. The deeply veined, richly yellow-green, aromatic leaves have a coarse-looking surface and neatly crimped edges. They are often overlooked in descriptions due to the main attraction: the marvellous blooms.

Chic even in bud, the long, slender spikes droop gracefully, making an exotic impact even before they open. As they swell, the long, tubular, velvety purple blooms emerge from the calyces (papery bud casings), creating a two-tone effect.  Its long, slender, intricately lipped and flared blooms have incredible poise too, arranged horizontally in ‘stacks’ on the flower spikes.

Did you know?

Salvia ‘Amistad’ is believed to be a hybrid of two Mexican species and was discovered by Dr Rolando Uria, an agronomist, in a garden in Lanus, Buenos Aires province, Argentina, in 2007. He wished it to be shared freely in the horticultural trade, resulting in the name ‘Amistad’, which means friendship in Spanish.

Growing Tips for Your Salvia ‘Amistad’

• Soil and Sun: full sun in any well-drained soil. It is adaptable to morning shade but needs hot afternoon sun to bloom well.
• Planting: in late spring or early autumn. Never plant a dry plant! Plunge the pot into water for 10 minutes to thoroughly soak the root ball before planting.
• Winter Care & Pruning: leave old stems intact over winter to protect the crown from frost. Cut back dead growth in late spring once new shoots appear. In harsh winters, or in central and northern gardens, apply a mulch of straw or leaf mould to the base of the plant. In cold areas, lift in late autumn, or grow in pots and move to a frost-free location for winter.
• Height and Spread: after 2 – 5 years: 1.5m x 0.5m.

Drought-tolerant, aromatic and irresistible to pollinators, this variety has so many qualities we could write an essay about it. A firm Urban Jungle favourite, we’re sure it has one of the coolest colour schemes of any perennial. Add some catwalk-worthy glamour to your garden; weave a spread of this special plant through your borders today!